Background: Taylor Taranto and Dr. David Walls-Kaufman inside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack (Department of Justice). Left inset: Capitol Police Officer Jeffrey Smith (Jack Reznicki). Right inset: Donald Trump speaks after meeting with members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at their headquarters on Jan. 31, 2024, in Washington (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik).
A civil trial opened on Monday in Washington, D.C., where the widow of a Jan. 6 police officer who died by suicide — after suffering from a “brain injury” and “severe depression” that she says was the result of defending the Capitol — is suing a pair of demonstrators who allegedly caused it.
“My client is still living with the events of that,” attorney Richard Link told jurors, in reference to his client Erin Smith, widow of Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith. The officer died by suicide just nine days after he was allegedly attacked by Dr. David Walls-Kaufman, who joined thousands of others to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“Time stood still,” Link said about Erin Smith’s feelings on the day Jeffrey died, according to The Associated Press.
“I told him I loved him, said I would see him when he got home,” Erin Smith later testified.
Jeffrey Smith used his service weapon to take his life while on the way to work, his wife says.
Defendants Taylor Taranto and Walls-Kaufman, both of Washington state, are facing a wrongful-death lawsuit that Smith’s lawyers filed in August 2021.
During the Jan. 6 riot, Jeffrey Smith was allegedly struck in the face by a metal tactical “cane” that Walls-Kaufman — a D.C. chiropractor — was wielding that day, according to Smith’s complaint. Taranto is accused of giving Walls-Kaufman the cane.
“Kaufman was part of the insurrectionist mob inside the US Capitol and was being escorted out of the building by MPD officers,” the complaint says. “Co-Defendant Taranto handed a cane or crowbar (or similar object) to Kaufman. Kaufman, in turn, violently swung the cane and struck Officer Smith in the face/head.”
Erin Smith’s filing describes the attack as a violent crime of opportunity, with her husband being “in a particularly vulnerable situation because his face shield was up — “leaving his face and eyes exposed.” She says Kaufman and Taranto “specifically and maliciously targeted Officer Smith” because his visor was in the upright position, making him vulnerable to the “brutal and vicious attack,” the complaint charges.
“As a direct and proximate result of the intentional assault … which, in turn, caused Smith’s death, Erin Smith sustained pecuniary loss, mental anguish, emotional pain and suffering, loss of society, loss of companionship, loss of comfort of protection, loss of marital care, loss of filial care, loss of attention, loss of advice, loss of counsel, loss of training, loss of guidance and loss of consortium,” her lawyers allege.
Erin Smith told jurors Monday that finding out Jeffrey shot himself with his service revolver was “the most traumatic words I’ve ever heard,” according to AP.
“You just don’t know what to do,” she said.
Walls-Kaufman’s lawyer, Hughie Hunt, reportedly described Smith’s case as one where jurors must “separate emotion” and reach a verdict based on facts. “This is tragic, but that doesn’t place anything at the foot of my client,” Hunt reportedly said during his opening statements.
“The claim rests entirely on ambiguous video footage subject to interpretation and lacks corroborating eyewitness testimony,” Hunt asserted.
Video captured on Jeffrey Smith’s body camera allegedly shows his scuffle with Walls-Kaufman and his wife’s lawyers plan to go through a frame-by-frame review where Walls-Kaufman can allegedly be seen striking Jeffrey Smith with a baton on his head. Taranto, a U.S. Navy veteran, was allegedly caught on surveillance video clashing with Capitol police alongside Walls-Kaufman.
Taranto’s Jan. 6 trial for his alleged actions that day was scheduled to begin in May before it was scrubbed by President Donald Trump‘s pardon order. Walls-Kaufman was sentenced in June 2023 to two months in prison after pleading guilty and admitting that he “scuffled” with officers, according to NBC News.
A 2022 determination by the District of Columbia Police and Firefighters’ Retirement and Relief Board found that Jeffrey Smith suffered a concussion and line-of-duty injury that was the “sole and direct cause of his death,” according to Erin Smith’s complaint.
Link pointed out Monday, while Erin Smith was on the stand, that she was wearing the same shoes from her 2019 wedding. “To remember the happy times,” she said. “And to have a piece of him here with me.”
The trial is expected to last about a week. Both parties did not respond to Law&Crime’s requests for comment on Wednesday.
